East Timor News Digest 8 – August 1-31, 2010
- Court upholds 'Balibo' ban as critics cry foul - Jakarta Globe
- Balibo movie ban appeal rejected by Jakarta administrative court - Jakarta Globe
- East Timor flags conditions for refugee centre - Radio Australia
- East Timor says Australia polls put asylum talks on hold - Agence France Presse
- East Timor president pardons rebels who shot him - Sydney Morning Herald
- Dili acts to ease concerns of drift towards China - The Australian
- Gillard's gas field remarks anger East Timor - ABC News
- Burma-Timor Leste forge closer ties - Irrawaddy
- Protests greet Myanmar minister - Agence France Presse
- East Timor seeks 'strong' commercial ties with Myanmar - Agence France Presse
- China, East Timor strengthen military ties - ABC News
- A long walk for justice - Jakarta Post
Court upholds 'Balibo' ban as critics cry foul
Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2010
Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – Journalists have criticized Thursday's "vague" court ruling that upheld the government's ban on the controversial film "Balibo" as an indication of the government's unwillingness to confront its "dark past."
"Banning the film is a symbol of the government's unwillingness to be honest about its dark past and its failure to commit to a transparent legal process for human rights violators," Wahyu Dhyatmika, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalist (AJI), told the Jakarta Globe.
He said his group would appeal the decision, which he described as a setback for the freedom of expression that has been one of the main hallmarks of the country's reform movement that arose following the resignation of former President Suharto.
In early December 2009, the Film Censorship Board (LSF) banned the film, which tells the story of five journalists killed when Indonesian troops took over the East Timorese border town of Balibo in October 1975.
A sixth journalist died weeks later when Indonesian forces invaded the capital, Dili. Indonesia has always maintained that the "Balibo Five" died in a cross-fire as Indonesian troops fought East Timorese Fretilin rebels.
The movie had been scheduled to screen at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JiFFest) in December.
Sholeh Ali, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers), which represented AJI Jakarta during the proceedings at the State Administrative Court, said the court decision was "vague."
"The judges referred to the wrong provisions and they applied them to this case ambiguously," Sholeh said.
A censorship board official, RM Tedjo Baskoro, told the Globe that the film "did not cover both sides by failing to include information from the Indonesian side." If the film were screened, he said, it would reopen "old wounds" between Indonesia, Australia and East Timor.
But Hendrayana, executive director of LBH Pers, said that the film "has been screened publicly in five cities and has not resulted in any problems." This, he said, completely undermined the censorship body's claim that the film would damage ties between the three countries if it were screened.
Tedjo Baskoro also claimed that the court complaint seeking to have the ban overturned did not have the proper legal standing because AJI Jakarta was not directly affected by the body's decision to ban the movie. He said the only party directly affected by the ban was JiFFest organizer Masyarakat Mandiri Film Indonesia.
Sholeh, however, said the judges had acknowledged the plaintiff's interest in the case through its concern the ban was detrimental to press freedom, democracy and free speech.
Wahyu said he was not surprised by Thursday's decision based on what he described as the court's apparent disinterest in the testimony of Shirley Shackleton, the widow of one of the journalists killed in Dili.
Shackleton told the court she was convinced her husband was shot after surrendering to Indonesian soldiers. "This is a setback for freedom of the press and free speech in Indonesia," Wahyu said.
In addition to Shackleton, the LBH Pers team presented Leo Batubara, a former deputy chairman of the Press Council and a free speech advocate, and Ratna Sarumpaet, an activist and filmmaker, as witnesses.
Balibo movie ban appeal rejected by Jakarta administrative court
Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2010
Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The Jakarta Administrative Court on Thursday rejected the Alliance of Independent Journalist's appeal to overturn the ban on the Australian film "Balibo."
Sholeh Ali, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Center for the Press (LBH Pers), which is representing the Alliance of Independent Journalists, also known as AJI, in proceedings at the State Administrative Court, said the court's decision was "vague."
"The judges have referred to the wrong provisions and they have applied them to this case ambiguously," said Sholeh after the final hearing of the case ended.
Wahyu Dhyatmika, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the AJI told the Jakarta Globe that they expected such an outcome. The AJI blamed a lack of attentiveness from the judges when hearing the testimony of Shirley Shackleton, a widow of one of the Australian journalists killed in Dili.
"This is a setback to press freedom and free speech in Indonesia," said Wahyu, adding that they will file a fresh appeal to the verdict within a week.
Hendrayana, executive director of the LBH Pers, said the film "has been screened publicly in five cities without creating any problems," and rejected the censorship body's assertion that the film was not fit to be screened because it could damage relations between Indonesia, East Timor and Australia.
In early December 2009, the Indonesian Censorship Institute, also know as the LSF, banned the film, which tells the story of five Australian journalists who were killed when Indonesian troops took over the border town of Balibo in East Timor in October 1975. A sixth journalist died weeks later when Indonesian forces invaded Dili.
The movie was originally scheduled to screen at the Jakarta International Film Festival in December last year and was submitted to the LSF by the festival organizer.
The ban against the movie has not stopped its distribution as illegal pirated DVDs are freely available throughout Indonesia with vendors having reported a surge in sales of the movie after the original ban.
East Timor flags conditions for refugee centre
Radio Australia - August 12, 2010
East Timor says it will go ahead with a planned four billion dollar oil and gas hub on its southern coast whether Woodside Petroleum commits to onshore gas processing or not.
The multi-national oil and gas firm has said it will go ahead with a floating plant for the processing of gas from the Sunrise Field – but East Timor wants a pipeline and plant to be built in East Timor. Talks have been suspended. And now East Timor's economic development minister says other companies are ready to step in if Woodside refuses. He also says running a pipeline to East Timor would have to be a condition that Australia agrees to if it wants East Timor to host a planned regional processing centre for asylum seekers.
Presenter: Karon Snowdon, finance correspondent
Speaker: Jao Mendez Goncalves, East Timorese minister for economic development
Snowdon: East Timor has been mentioned during Australia's national election campaign but as a possible site for a processing centre for refugees seeking asylum in Australia.
The minister, Jao Mendez Goncalves, might have only been half serious when he suggested his country's dispute with Woodside become an election issue, but he is disappointed the Australian government seems to be siding in his view with Woodside in the dispute over the Sunrise Field.
Woodside says it's too expensive and not technically feasible to pipe gas for processing from the Timor Sea to East Timor. East Timor disputes both points and adds that onshore processing is essential for jobs and development.
Goncalves: Well, the Australian government has always stated it would not get involved in this, that it's merely a commercial issue. But in the negotiations that our people have had with the Australian government there is a clear indication that the Australian government is somehow protecting Woodside's interests, that's the way we see [it].
Snowdon: Are you disappointed with that?
Goncalves: Yes, I think our prime minister and our government, we are all disappointed by that because I believe that it would be in Australia's interest for this pipeline to also go to Timor- Leste. If the pipeline goes to Timor-Leste, there will be Australian companies working there, there will be skilled people from Australia coming to work there. And whether the pipeline comes or not, we're still going ahead with our development of the oil and gas industries there. If we're not having the cooperation of the Australian government, then of course, we need to look somewhere else and we may probably go to other countries that can also provide us with expertise.
Snowdon: China would be expressing some interest there.
Goncalves: China, Malaysia, South Korea, even Brazil, but, as I said, as a neighbour country we would like to work with Australia, we would like to have this close cooperation with the Australian government and I hope the Australian people will continue to support our bid to have the pipeline come to Timor- Leste, and I think that – getting close to the elections, probably – the Australian people will take that as an issue to their members and maybe persuade them to support the Timor-Leste position.
Snowdon: Jao Mendez Goncalves is in Australia to discuss with potential investors opportunities in East Timor.
Yet it's a tough job the minister has. According to a World Bank report his country ranked 170 out of 181 nations for the ease of doing business in 2009, with inadequate company law and banking services.
Despite its oil wealth, 50 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, unemployment is high and education and labour skills are lacking.
But East Timor has experienced double digit economic growth for several years and expects that to continue for several more. And it's open to negotiations about a refugee centre after the Australian election on August 21.
Goncalves: We can get benefits out of it. My suggestion – as I said, this is not the government view, this is my personal view – we've got the island of Atauro that needs to be developed, so we can say, if the processing centre goes there, let's develop the island, put roads and water for the local people, basic infrastructure, a port, airfield, they are things that can be attached to any conditions if we are going to accept anything like that. And the other condition that you should put of course is that the pipeline should go to Timor-Leste, for sure! I can say that. But certainly we are open for negotiations and let's see what happens after that.
[Autoro Island is a low populated, slightly barren island off the coast from Dili – former site of Indonesian detention centres for East Timorese people in the first half of the occupation. Mostly poor farmer and fisher community live there now.]
East Timor says Australia polls put asylum talks on hold
Agence France Presse - August 4, 2010
Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday he was waiting for the new Australian government to be installed before talks about a regional refugee centre could "re-open."
With Australia heading to the polls on August 21 and Prime Minister Julia Gillard facing a neck-and-neck race with the opposition, Ramos-Horta indicated that any plan for a regional processing centre in East Timor was on hold.
"We'll wait. If the new government in Australia wants to re-open the dialogue, my position as president and the government's still stands. We're ready to talk because I believe this is a humanity issue," he told reporters.
"Timor-Leste cannot avoid or reject people who have fled wars but Timor-Leste is not giving an answer or green light yet," he added, using his country's formal name.
East Timor is not seeking any "benefits" in return for hosting the proposed centre for asylum seekers who reach Australia by boat, usually with the help of Indonesian people smugglers, he said. "On this matter, we've never looked for benefits. It's about our conscience," he said.
Shortly after ousting Kevin Rudd as prime minister in a party coup, Gillard revealed surprise plans to ship asylum-seekers to impoverished East Timor rather than process them in Australia, where detention centres are overflowing.
The ploy was seen as a bid to strengthen her immigration and border security credentials ahead of the election, in which she is facing a tough battle against the conservative opposition which has pledged to "stop the boats".
But the offshore processing plan has made little progress since her announcement, with East Timorese lawmakers and senior government officials expressing strong opposition despite Ramos- Horta's willingness to negotiate with Canberra.
Ramos-Horta said further discussions were needed with Australia and the international community. "There are many questions and conditions that must be answered by Australia and the international community because this is not a simple matter," he said.
East Timor president pardons rebels who shot him
Sydney Morning Herald - August 25, 2010
Lindsay Murdoch – The President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, has pardoned 23 rebels involved in attacks in 2008 during which he was shot in the back and almost died.
Dr Ramos-Horta survived only after being flown to Australia for emergency surgery. The newspaper Tempo Semanal quoted Dr Ramos- Horta as saying he was releasing the rebels because they were also victims.
The rebels include Marcelo Caetano, who was sentenced in March this year to 16 years' jail on charges relating to the shooting outside Dr Ramos-Horta's residence on Dili's outskirts just after dawn on February 11, 2008.
Gastao Salsinha, the second-in-command to Alfredo Reinado, the Australian-trained renegade military officer who was killed in the attacks, is also being pardoned. He had been sentenced to 10 years' and eight months' in jail for his role in the attacks on Dr Ramos-Horta and the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, who escaped unhurt.
The pardons were published in the government Gazette on Friday but the rebels remain in jail awaiting a court order for their release to be issued. They are expected to be released within days.
Dr Ramos-Horta's decision to pardon the rebels will renew criticism of a so-called culture of impunity in the nation. Last year the government released Maternus Bere, a former pro- Indonesian militia leader who had been indicted by a United Nations crimes unit over the massacre of hundreds of people in a church in Suai in 1999.
Mr Bere was allowed to return to Indonesian West Timor, where he is a government official, prompting criticism from inside and outside East Timor, including from United Nations human rights officials. Indonesia had demanded Mr Bere's release without charge.
Three judges in Dili District Court who found the rebels guilty in March said they had ambushed Mr Gusmao but had not intended to kill him, only to destabilise East Timor.
Dr Ramos-Horta told the Herald this year that Caetano had admitted to him that he had shot him, and had apologised, saying he had not intended to kill him.
But in court Caetano maintained he was not the shooter. The judges found his automatic weapon was not the weapon that had shot Dr Ramos-Horta, contradicting the official version of events.
Angelita Pires, the Australian lover of Reinado, was acquitted in March of conspiring to kill Dr Ramos-Horta and Mr Gusmao. Ms Pires now lives in Darwin, where she is planning to write a book about her life with Reinado.
Dr Ramos-Horta rejected claims that Reinado was lured to his residence where assassins were waiting to execute him, saying "there are lunatics who make this kind of conspiracy theory".
But investigators have been unable to prove why Reinado led the rebels to Dili from his mountain base the day of the attacks. (With AAP)
Dili acts to ease concerns of drift towards China
The Australian - August 30, 2010
Peter Alford – Australia remains East Timor's key strategic partner, says its Foreign Minister, Zacarias da Costa.
Mr da Costa said Australian fears of increasing Chinese influence on his tiny nation are "groundless".
"Our relations with Australia, with the US, in our security sector are improving and strengthening and I don't see (why) the statement of the Prime Minister should cause a lot of concern in Australia," he said.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao fanned renewed concern in Australian strategic circles with a speech last week praising China's no- strings assistance, while welcoming the gift of a new $9 million defence headquarters and raising the possibility of Chinese training for East Timor's military.
But Mr da Costa, who has played a leading role in recent negotiations with Beijing, told The Australian that his government's interest in furthering Chinese relations was for trade and investment.
"It's purely trade and I don't think even Beijing is looking at a strategic military presence in East Timor, as many people are trying to say in Australia at the moment," he said.
The Foreign Minister also said Dili stood ready to resume discussions with any new government in Canberra about Julia Gillard's proposal for a regional refugee processing centre. But he made clear the process would be lengthy and faced big obstacles on the East Timor side.
Mr da Costa, however, expressed confidence that Australia-East Timor ties would be fundamentally unaffected whichever major party formed a government. He said Tony Abbott and Ms Gillard were genuinely committed to the relationship.
And he justified as "constructive engagement" East Timor's increasing diplomatic interchanges with the Burmese regime and Frank Bainimarama's military-backed government in Fiji, which Australia seeks to isolate diplomatically.
The Dili government was intent on furthering relations not just with Australia and Indonesia but with ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific island nations.
Mr da Costa, who was hosted by Burma's Foreign Minister, Nyan Win, this month and will make a return visit to promote commercial relations, said his government did not shy from raising human rights and political freedom issues with the Burmese regime and Fiji.
But it remained committed to East Timor's primary security relationships.
"We are clear that in terms of security and defence co-operation we will privilege our co-operation with Australia, with the US, with Portugal (East Timor's former colonist) and Japan," Mr da Costa said. "I would just say to those who are concerned with our growing co-operation with China that it's groundless."
Even in trade, he said, Chinese influence was not comparable to Australia's. China's trade with East Timor in 2008 was officially worth $10.4m (in current terms), Australia's was $37.5m, Singapore's $54.3m and former military occupier Indonesia's was $102.1m.
Recent Chinese assistance in the form of building new official premises, including Mr da Costa's Foreign Ministry building and the planned defence headquarters, exceeds $US21m ($23.4m) but there is also extensive civil service training and technical development. Australia is providing about $100m assistance to East Timor this year.
On Australia's proposal for an East Timor regional refugee processing centre, Mr da Costa said East Timor wanted a comprehensive humanitarian-focused solution.
Gillard's gas field remarks anger East Timor
ABC News - August 20, 2010
East Timor has taken exception to comments by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the development of a gas field in the Timor Sea.
The development of the Greater Sunrise field has stalled because of a dispute between East Timor and Woodside. Yesterday Ms Gillard said Woodside's decisions should be in the best interests of its shareholders.
But East Timor's secretary of state for natural resources, Alfredo Pires, says treaties say Australia and East Timor must jointly choose what is in the best interests of people in both countries.
"In regards to that I find this very disappointing," he said. "We were expecting a new paradigm of the discussions."
The East Timorese government says Australia is a close friend but the comments do not lift its confidence in the negotiations. It says Labor's plan for a refugee processing centre in East Timor is an unrelated matter.
Burma-Timor Leste forge closer ties
Irrawaddy - August 23, 2010
Simon Roughneen, Bangkok – Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win concluded a three-day goodwill visit to Timor Leste on Sunday, after being met by protestors at Dili's international airport on Friday.
According to a Timorese journalist who requested that his name not be used, a small group of mainly university students clashed with police at Presidente Nicolau Lobato Airport on Friday.
Juvinal Diaz, who attended the demonstration, said that although the rally was peaceful, police seized banners and placards protesting the visit. Nyan Win was unable to leave the airport for more than an hour while the demonstration took place.
The visit comes as Timor Leste, the official name for the country also known as East Timor, continues its quest for membership in the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Dili needs agreement from all current Asean member-states before it can join.
Speaking on Friday, Timor Leste President Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta said, "We want to increase our relations," adding that "this is in accordance with Timor-Leste policy, which aims to improve relations with neighboring countries."
Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa will visit Burma soon, according to Ramos-Horta, to foster commercial ties between the two countries.
Timor-Leste is highly import-dependent, with little more than a subsistence, non-oil economy. Timor's energy revenues are paid into a national petroleum fund, aimed at ensuring responsible and sustainable spending and retaining sufficient cash after offshore oil and gas reserves are depleted. While the current government has been criticized for over-spending from the reserves, the system is in marked contrast to the opaque natural resource economics in Burma, which exports most its oil and gas.
As seen by the airport demonstration, not everybody is happy with Dili's attempts to form a closer relationship with the military government in Naypyidaw.
Zoya Phan, the international coordinator at Burma Campaign UK, told The Irrawaddy that she believes Nyan Win's visit to Burma is part of the junta's campaign to gain recognition for the upcoming Nov. 7 elections, which have been dismissed for their restrictive campaign measures.
She said, "East Timor should reject this fake election and pressure him [Nyan Win] to enter into genuine negotiations with democracy forces and ethnic groups."
Timor-Leste is a former Portuguese colony which was invaded by Indonesia shortly after the fall of the military dictatorship in Lisbon in 1974, which brought about Portugal's rapid withdrawal from its colonies.
An estimated 200,000 Timorese, out of a population of around 700,000, died during the occupation, which lasted until 1999. The country's post-independence Constitution says that Timor-Leste should show solidarity with other oppressed people's around the world.
In the past, Ramos-Horta has vociferously condemned the policies of the Burmese junta. Ramos-Horta shared the Nobel Peace prize with Bishop Carlos Belo in 1996, five years after Burma's jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi won the same award.
During Nyan Win's weekend visit, Ramos-Horta said that a national dialogue toward reconciliation in Burma should be implemented, and that Aung San Suu Kyi should be freed to participate. The statements echo remarks he made in February, when welcoming the new Burmese ambassador.
Asean membership would require Timor-Leste to accede to various economic and free trade agreements, though not necessarily immediately. However, some membership provisions could adversely affect Dili's scope to develop its non-oil economy, according to Shona Hawkes of La'o Hamutuk of the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis.
Nyan Win's Dili trip came directly after an official visit by Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo, who encouraged Singaporean businessmen to visit Timor-Leste. He was reported in Singaporean media as saying, "We want Timor Leste to do well, to show that other small countries facing difficult circumstances can also succeed."
However, Yeo reportedly poured cold water on Dili's Asean membership bid, which may mean ambitions to join the bloc by 2012 will not be realized. Shona Hawkes told The Irrawaddy that although Timor-Leste has made a start on its Asean membership, apparently some member-states have concerns that Dili lacks the resources to attend and contribute to the bloc's 800-plus meetings per year.
Nonetheless, Dili will host Asean Regional Forum gatherings in November and December, with Thailand supporting the staging of the 5th ARF Experts and Eminent Persons Meeting.
Protests greet Myanmar minister
Agence France Presse - August 20, 2010
Dili – Human rights activists clashed with police in East Timor on Friday as they protested the visit of Myanmar's foreign minister and demanded the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Dozens of protesters gathered at Dili airport as Foreign Minister U Nyan Win arrived ahead of talks with East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta and other senior officials, organisers said.
Scuffles broke out as police seized banners and other written material condemning human rights abuses in military-ruled Myanmar, where Nobel laureate and democracy leader Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for years.
"We are here to bring support to our friends in Burma in their struggle to release political prisoners and to stop continuous human rights violations there," rally coordinator Carolino Marques said, using Myanmar's old name.
"Aung San Suu Kyi must be released immediately and the military junta must be toppled as soon as possible."
A tightly controlled election scheduled in Myanmar on November 7 has been been condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at cementing decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention, is barred as a serving prisoner from standing. Her National League for Democracy – which won the last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power – it is boycotting the vote. Nyan Win is expected to leave East Timor on Sunday.
East Timor seeks 'strong' commercial ties with Myanmar
Agence France Presse - August 20, 2010
Dili – East Timor's president said Friday his country is seeking to improve relations with Myanmar, including commercial ties.
"We want to increase our relations," President Jose Ramos-Horta said after meeting Myanmar's foreign minister during a visit that drew protests over human rights abuses in military-ruled Myanmar.
"This is in accordance with Timor-Leste policy, which aims to improve relations with neighbouring countries," Ramos-Horta said, referring to his country by its official name.
"And in order to improve commercial ties, Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Zacarias Da Costa will visit Myanmar with a business representative soon. The aim is to start a strong commercial relationship with Myanmar," he said.
Ramos-Horta said East Timor had also urged Myanmar's military regime to open a dialogue with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Timor-Leste's position, and also that of the international community and ASEAN, is that if the dialogue occurs, then it should aim to free her to become a regular citizen," he said.
The visit by Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win was marked by protests, with clashes breaking out between police and human rights activists demanding Suu Kyi's release.
Dozens of protesters gathered at Dili airport as Nyan Win arrived Friday to meet with Ramos-Horta and other senior officials, protest organisers said.
Scuffles broke out as police seized banners and other written material condemning human rights abuses in Myanmar, where Nobel laureate and democracy leader Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for years.
"We are here to bring support to our friends in Burma in their struggle to release political prisoners and to stop continuous human rights violations there," rally coordinator Carolino Marques said, using Myanmar's old name.
"Aung San Suu Kyi must be released immediately and the military junta must be toppled as soon as possible."
A tightly controlled election scheduled in Myanmar on November 7 has been been condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at cementing decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention, is barred as a serving prisoner from standing in the election.
Her National League for Democracy – which won the last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power – it is boycotting the vote. Nyan Win is expected to leave East Timor on Sunday.
China, East Timor strengthen military ties
ABC News - August 24, 2010
Sara Everingham – East Timor's prime minister, Xanana Gusmao, has thanked the Chinese government for funding the construction of the country's new military headquarters.
In Dili this morning China and East Timor signed a contract for China to fund a new $9 million headquarters for Timor's fledgling army.
China has paid for other large buildings in East Timor, including the president's palace, the ministry of foreign affairs and the military residential headquarters.
It is another sign of military cooperation between the two countries. East Timor recently bought two patrol boats from China for its navy.
Mr Gusmao says his government wants to strengthen bilateral military cooperation with countries that provide support without ties. He also says it would not be legitimate for other countries to try to stop East Timor accepting military training from China.
A long walk for justice
Jakarta Post - August 15, 2010
[The Circle of Silence: A Personal Testimony before, during, and after Balibo Author: Shirley Shackleton, Publisher: Pier 9, 2010, Pages: 390.]
Carmel Budiardjo, London – When the Alliance of Independent Journalists invited Shirley Shackleton to testify at their judicial review of the government's decision to ban the film Balibo, they could hardly have made a better choice.
Shirley, the widow of one of the five journalists killed in Balibo, East Timor in October 1975, has campaigned untiringly to seek justice for the slain journalists and continues to demand that a formal investigation be held to determine how they died.
Along with Greg Shackleton, the other victims of the atrocity were fellow Australian Tony Stewart, Gary Cunningham from New Zealand, and two British journalists, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters.
The film Balibo, which was released in Australia last year, tells the story of the murders, the subsequent invasion, the 24-year occupation of East Timor and the Timorese people's fight for independence.
It was banned by the Indonesian Film Censorship Board in 2009 on the grounds that it depicts violence and uses only sources from Australian and Timor Leste (as East Timor is now known).
This ban obstructs the right of Indonesian people to learn about one of the worst examples of Indonesian military terror, namely its occupation of East Timor, when villagers were forced out of their homes, dissidents arrested and tortured and up to a third of the population killed in massacres.
During a recent trip to Jakarta, Shackleton visited the cemetery where the five journalists alleged to have been buried. Along with the relatives of the other journalists, she has always challenged the decision by the Indonesian authorities to bury the men in Indonesia and questions the contents of their graves.
In January, she wrote to the Indonesian government asking for permission to repatriate her husband's remains but has so far received no response. She has also sought permission for the grave to be exhumed for DNA testing to prove who was buried in the grave once and for all.
The many silences she encountered while in Indonesia add legitimacy to the title of her book, which records a litany of silences heard at every turn since the day in October 1975 when she first heard that five journalists were missing, shortly after her husband had departed for what he thought would be a three-day visit to Portuguese East Timor.
At the time of Greg's departure, their marriage was in crisis. Before his departure, he confided to her his fear that this risky assignment might result in his imprisonment.
As a chronic sufferer of asthma, Greg had good reason to be worried. "We could end up in jail," he told her.
"Can you imagine conditions in a Third-World prison? I could die without medication. Don't leave me there, Shirl. Do everything. Sell the house. Get me out."
Yet these concerns did not diminish his determination to take the assignment, nor did their shaky relationship diminish his trust in Shirley Shackleton.
When she first heard a report on the radio about missing journalists, she called the Australian Broadcasting Corporation newsroom and asked who was missing but was told rather abruptly that she was wasting their time. If she was related to anyone missing, she was told, she would hear from the Foreign Affairs Department. She never heard anything.
Greg, along with Tony Stewart and Gary Cunningham, was on assignment from Australia's Channel Seven, while the two British journalists, Malcolm Rennie and Brian Peters, were on assignment from Channel Nine.
Although she had received no confirmation from the Australian government about what had happened to the journalists, a commemorative event was held for the five men without it being clear what they were commemorating. Were the men dead? If so, where were the coffins? What had happened to the bodies?
"Among the many strangers who asked to speak," she writes, "not one voiced the obvious – the deceased had been murdered. The eulogies, the music, the total lack of coffins gave the proceedings the quality of an odious sham."
From then on, her book is devoted to an account of what happened to the Timorese people during the Indonesian occupation of their country and to a visit to Timor which she made in 1991 at the time of a Papal visit. Her descriptions are often interspersed with poems she wrote to give color to her accounts.
From the very start of the occupation, resistance to the Indonesian invaders was widespread and persistent. Foremost in organizing the resistance was Fretilin which established an armed wing called Falintil.
An Indonesian operation called Pagar Betis in 1979 and 1980 perhaps more than any other operation shows just how difficult the invaders were finding it to control the territory.
"All Timorese males from nine years old to their 60s were driven, ahead of Indonesian troops armed with whips, guns, fixed bayonets and machetes, to flush out guerrillas who were thought to be hiding. As the human chain tightened, anyone hiding in the bush would be forced into the open."
As the author points out, most were civilians who had left their villages to seek sanctuary.
A similar operation had been organized by the British colonial government in India, to flush out animals as easy targets for sport. But in Timor, the quarry was human beings, not wild animals. "There was no mercy for the sick and feeble, and no transport... [The men] were given no time to collect water, protective clothing or digging sticks with which to obtain food.... Many Timorese who survived starvation and exposure died on the long trek back home. Some were impaired mentally."
She concludes that "as a military operation, Pagar Betis was a failure; as a means of enforcing genocide it was a success." When she later wrote about this operation in The Age, in 1990, her article was never refuted.
She decided to go to East Timor on the occasion of the visit of the Pope who had agreed to officiate at a mass. As it turns out, this was a special occasion for four-star general, Benny Moerdani who was himself a Roman Catholic. He remained a close ally throughout his military career of Gen. Soeharto and was part of the much dreaded Kopassus, which has throughout its existence been linked to numerous human rights abuses.
Moerdani was credited with having taken the decision to invade East Timor and was considered aftermath. Unfortunately for Shackleton, she found herself sharing a hotel with Moerdani, even having to eat her meals in the same dining-room.
"I studied his large ugly hands, knowing he could reach forward and with a flick of his wrist break my neck. I wanted to slap his grinning face so badly that I sat on my right hand."
She decided to use this opportunity to speak to him. He denied any knowledge of the killing of the Balibo Five or of Roger East, another Australian journalist killed shortly after the invasion.
After saying to him, "When you allow your troops to commit atrocities you make sure that Timorese will never accept you," his eyes drooped as he looked passed me. In desperation, I said, "Timorese are not peasants, they are a refined people, a cultured people." He stood abruptly, turned his back to me and sauntered away.
During the mass, a demonstration took place but was quickly dispersed. A crackdown occurred after the journalists had left. During his homily, the Pope said: "In your great suffering, you are the salt of the earth." This was greeted with loud cheers. But his next words "You must be ready for reconciliation" were met with silence.
During a brief trip to Fatumaca in the east, Shackleton met a Catholic preist who was running a school for children most of whom were orphans, as well as a college run by Canossian nuns teaching printing, wood- and metal-working.
The situation she witnessed looked quite relaxed, but later one of the priests told her that some of the students had been tortured even while they were tilling in the fields. "Our masters force entrance to the people at night with fierce dogs, they shoot weapons and drag away suspects. We live in terror."
It so happened that her visit to Timor coincided with the anniversary of the murder of the Balibo Five. This gave her the opportunity to plant a tree in Balibo on Oct. 16 and she was determined to do this "in full blazing sunlight". As this was happening, a children's choir nearby began to sing in Tetun: "The purity of their voices was a benediction."
Then someone approached her, asking if she would agree to take out some handwritten letters from resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao. When the person later gave her the letters, she realized that she had been given 198 letters addressed to people in Australia, Portugal and France. She left the country with these letters tucked inside her jacket, thankful that she was never searched.
Throughout the years of the occupation of East Timor, the issue remained on the agenda of the United Nations, thanks to Resolution 384 adopted unanimously on Dec. 22, 1975 by the Security Council, calling on Indonesia to withdraw all its troops from East Timor "without delay".
The piece of paper on which the resolution was written was held by Jose Ramos Horta, who had fought with such determination to save his people from the horrors of the occupation.
But as she says, "that was all it was, a piece of paper. Indonesia behaved as if it did not exist and world leaders, by remaining silent, gave tacit approval to the illegal occupation of Timor. Another silent circle and one that destroyed all hope for the Timorese."